Hospital Bed
by Trignifty
Summary: Bella returns to Forks to find that some things never change. Jacob/Bella, Post Eclipse


**Hospital Bed-A One Shot by Trignifty**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, the story, the plots, characters, and ideas belong to the talented Stephanie Meyer. I am not selling this for money or receiving any other type of profit.**

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I stretched, making a face at the sound of the construction going on outside my window. You'd think that they could pick a better time to add another floor to the already massive garage, however the roaring dump trucks and clanking cranes paid me and my wishes no heed. I would have been perfectly happy to grab the thin pillow supporting my head and hold it over my ears, however I doubted the thing had enough stuffing in it to do any good at all, and besides, if it were being used to shield my hearing, there would be nothing but the too-thin mattress to rest my head on. I yawned, and glanced out the window at the mid morning sunshine streaking in striped patterns through the half closed blinds. I wished a nurse would be in to open them.

Not for the first time did it hit me how truly alone I was. However, unlike the other times I'd been away from him, Edward's absence didn't threaten to reopen the great gaping hole in my heart, the scar that it had taken a werewolf to mend. Because this time, I knew that he would never leave me again. Leaning back against the frail pillow, I gave a sigh, an outlet for mix of contentment and regret that I felt. The medication kept all other feelings at bay.

I felt regret because I knew that I would never see him again. Him, or Alice, or Esme, for he wouldn't allow it. None of them would be allowed to see me until I wanted them to, until I called, letting him know it, for all he wanted was for me to be happy. He'd said it himself when he thought I wasn't listening, that if I wanted to leave, he'd let me go without fight or complaint. I hadn't allowed time for a fight.

However, among the regret and sadness there was also a contentment that I had never _truly_ been able to experience in his absence. I knew that my heart would never be ripped in two again and I knew that I was _free_. For I knew, even as I had walked down the aisle in a white dress, that my heart belonged to someone else.

During the past months I'd had time to think, was _encouraged_ to. I had refused a fancy honeymoon, so while we could have gone anywhere in the world, Paris or Hawaii, or Bora Bora, we ended up at the Snoqualmie Lodge, not more than an hour outside of Seattle, yet in appearance nothing like the seaside city, with its tall sky scrapers and noisy traffic. The Snoqualmie Lodge was perfect for me, serene and mellow, yet incredibly powerful and beautiful with the huge waterfall thundering day and night. Often, he and I would walk along the river, and sometimes I could almost believe I caught a glimpse of a wolf streaking through the underbrush.

A week later we'd flown across the country to New Hampshire, to attend Dartmouth University despite my mutters, and sometimes shouts of complaint. I decided to major in journalism, as did he, however our studies, or shall I say _my_ studies came to a sudden halt when I discovered I was pregnant. Before this discovery we'd been planning to change me after a quarter at the college, now that seemed impossible if I wanted to keep the baby. And, as much as I wanted to become immortal and beautiful, I wanted to preserve the life inside of me as well.

That was when things started to go awry. He became much more distant and our talks more tense. He would leave for what I believed to be overly long periods of time and merely say that he had been hunting. Of course, this excuse became unusable after he left whilst his eyes were still their gentle honey color. I became tired and moody, but at least I had an excuse as the unborn baby continued to grow. It was during a particularly long absence that I finally became too fed up to deal with it anymore. I grabbed a backpack, left a note, and eight months pregnant hopped on a plane. Destination: Seattle, Washington.

I knew it wasn't just some pregnancy induced mood swing that had caused me to leave, and somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew that I wouldn't be going back.

It was while I was passing through the terminal in the Sea-Tac airport that I went into labor. I had hurried past baggage claim and out into the cold Seattle air. Of course it would be raining. Thankfully, a young couple was getting out of a taxi just to my right. I jumped in almost before the woman got out. "Where to?" Asked the driver.

"Overlake hospital" I said, panting. She took in my condition, huge stomach, sweat streaked forehead and heaving chest and was off without another word. And thank god she drove fast. By the time we reached the hospital I was grabbing the sides of the seat to keep from moaning out loud, but the driver seemed to be a woman sent from heaven. Rushing around to my side of the cab she pulled open the door and helped me out. Kicking the door closed, she helped support me as we hurried into the hospital and to the reception desk. "How much do I owe you?" I managed to ask.

"Don't worry about it," She said with a smile, before handing me off to a nurse. Eight hours, seven minutes, and a whole lot of pain medications later, I was the proud mama of a baby girl. I never wanted to let her go, but the nurse insisted, reassuring me that she would be perfectly fine in the hospital nursery and that I needed my rest. I had wanted to argue at first, but as soon as the room was empty, so was my resolve to stay awake and I drifted off soon after. I slept fitfully, and woke up every so often. Once, it was long enough to request a phone. I made two calls. One to Charlie's home in Forks, and one to La Push. Charlie didn't answer. Billy did, with a suspicious hello. He always acted funny on the phone after they got the caller ID.

"Hey, Billy?" I said, trying to sound light and casual and not like I'd called for the first time in nine months.

"Yes."

"It's Bella."

"Yes."

"Is Jacob there?"

"No."

I groaned in frustration. He was being completely unhelpful. "Do you know when he'll be back?"

"No."

"When he gets back can you give him a message?"

"If it's not too long."

I couldn't help but roll my eyes, "Tell him I'm at Overlake hospital and I need to see him."

"What are you doing there?"

I sighed, trying to decide whether to tell the truth or not. "You know how I am," I laughed, "always crashing into stuff."

"He's right, you're a bad liar."

Lovely. Fine, when all else fails, go with the cold, hard truth, he wouldn't believe it anyway. "I had a baby."

"WHAT?!"

"I said, I had a baby."

There was silence on the line as Billy contemplated this development in the plot. "Why do you want to see Jacob? You've messed with his heart enough as it is. He's not been himself since, well since you left."

I bit my lip, trying to not let it show in my words how much this news tore me apart. "Edward's not here." I said, hoping it may make the Indian a bit less relentless.

"What? Why isn't he there? It's his duty as the fath-" Billy's words cut off. "Wait,_ my_ boy isn't the father is he?"

I gasped, and had to fight the laughter that rose up in me, even then some of the giggles spilled over. "No Billy! I just want to see him."

"Oh. Okay. I'll tell him when he gets back."

And the line went dead.

I fell asleep again, and this time I awoke not to the rain lashing against my window, but to mid morning sunshine slanting through my window and loud construction outside. And I was alone. Just me, my thoughts and the dump trucks. I thought about calling Charlie again, but knew he would probably be at work and I couldn't remember the station number. Closing my eyes, I tried to relax and think about what my life would bring now. Charlie probably wouldn't refuse if I asked to stay at his place. He couldn't if he knew about the baby could he? I sighed. Things were going to be different. That was certain.

A gentle knock on my door roused me from my thoughts. Trying to sit up a bit straighter I turned towards the door. "Come in." Nothing in the world could have prepared me for the person who walked through the door. For rather than the nurse coming in to see if I was hungry or to let me know that I was all checked out and ready to go home, instead of the petite blonde haired girl who had so vigilantly checked my pulse there stood a tall, dark haired boy who caused my heart to start going a speed that would have made the nurse cluck her tongue condescendingly, however at the moment I couldn't care less.

"Jacob!" I exclaimed, the immense joy I felt at his presence overflowing into my voice. "You came!"

"Course I did Bells, did you think I'd doom you to hospital life alone? What'd you do to yourself anyway? Billy wouldn't tell me and the nurse acted really funny. Where's the bloodsucker? I thought maybe he'd be out charming the nurses, and when he wasn't there I thought he'd be with you." While he was saying this he had crossed the room in a few swift strides and now knelt beside the bed so that he was on eye level with me. Gently he took one of my hands and held it to his cheek, "It's good to see you Bells, even if you're in a hospital bed."

I smiled, and leaned forward, touching my cold forehead to his warm one. "It's wonderful to see you too" I whispered. And he smiled. We sat there nearly a minute before he spoke.

"But I have to ask," He said pulling back just a bit so that he could look me in the eyes, "where's the bloodsucker?"

"Gone" I said, leaning back down on the pillow.

"What?" He gasped, looking at me in disbelief, "He left you?"

"No" I corrected, giving him a look, "_I_ left him, and check your facts next time before you make accusations."

Immediately his face was washed over with nothing but concern, "Oh Bella" He whispered softly, as his hand tightened ever so gently over mine, he brought his other one down to my cheek in a gentle caress, comforting me. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't be sorry" I muttered darkly, however my free hand strayed to cover the one he held my face with. "My heart may look like Swiss cheese but that doesn't mean I'm gonna go jump off a cliff or anything. Besides" I said, fixing his dark eyes with mine, "I know for some people Swiss cheese hearts are fixable, just like some beat up motorcycles I know about."

He lit up immediately. "You wanna ride them? As soon as you get out of this dump we can take them out!" And then finally appeared the big grin that I treasured so much, it was what made him my Jacob, my sun. Then it clouded in confusion, "Why are you stuck in here anyway? It doesn't _look_ like you're in pain." He peered suspiciously at the various instruments I was hooked up to. _Unnecessary_ instruments in my opinion.

Just then there was a knock on the door. "Yeah?" I called. It opened to reveal the nurse, a tiny pink bundle in her arms.

"Do you want to see her now, or is it not a good time?" She asked, looking from me to Jacob.

"Now's perfect" I said with a broad smile, loosing my hands from Jacob's and holding my arms out for the beautiful baby girl. I waited until the nurse left to look back at Jacob, and his expression was priceless. One of utter confusion and awe.

"You…him…a…kid…wha-?"

"It's called a baby Jacob." I said, laughing, "You know, people before they grow into adults?"

"I know, but…"

I grinned. For I was certain that this was the first time I had ever seen Jacob Black entirely incapable of comprehendible speech. Except of course when he was a wolf.

"You wanna hold her?" I asked, a smile playing on my lips.

He shook his head, dumbfounded, "I'd break her."

"You'll do fine" I said, holding out the tiny pink bundle, "here."

Slowly, almost cautiously he took her, gently drawing back his arms to hold her tight to his chest. I smiled softly as he stared down at the sleeping baby, an expression of incredible tenderness in his dark eyes. "She's beautiful" he finally said looking back up at me, "she looks like you."

My smile broke into a grin as he gently handed her back to me. She didn't stir during the transfer, but stayed sound asleep, her eyes shut tight, her tiny hands balled into little fists. "What's her name?" He asked, as I readjusted the blanket the nurse had wrapped around her.

"Brielle" I said, looking back up at him, "I'm gonna call her Bree though."

"That's really pretty" He said finally, I assumed running out of things to say. "When are they gonna let you out of here?"

"I don't know." I said shrugging. I hoped it would be soon, I was sick of the dreary hospital room, though I was happy to wait as long as Jacob was there.

"I'll stay with you as long as you need." He said, taking one of my hands.

"Thanks Jake" I said, smiling at him, "but it may be awhile. The rest of my life even."

"What?" He asked, slightly bewildered, "In the _hospital_?"

"No, silly wolf" I grinned, shifting Bree so that she was resting in only one of my arms. Then quickly wrapped my free arm around Jacob's neck and leaned up to him for the kiss I'd been waiting for for a long time. "Not in the hospital."

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Charlie arrived less than an hour later and I was allowed to leave within a half hour. Jake, being crazy, and a werewolf, hadn't taken a car to Seattle, preferring to run but thankfully Charlie had brought my truck instead. It seemed he'd been expecting we'd need more room than was in the police cruiser. We left the hospital happy. Charlie's arm around me, and little Bree resting in my arms. Walking next to me was Jacob, carrying my backpack and whistling happily. As we stepped out the doors into the rare Seattle sunshine we passed the nurse who had been attending to me speaking to a colleague.

"Her baby's beautiful, though she doesn't look at all like the father. Both she and the baby are so _pale_ and he's so dark. And the baby has the strangest eyes, like gold…"

I only smiled.

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**Thanks for reading! This was my first Twilight fanfiction, and also obviously my first attempt at Jacob/Bella. This is post-eclipse and may be AU due to me not reading Breaking Dawn yet. I hope you all enjoyed. Reviews are very much appreciated.**


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